Although the journey was unbearably painful, our speed wasn't too slow.
After a few hours had passed, I noticed that the buildings on both sides of the road had begun to change into residential apartment blocks.
I figured in my heart that we probably weren't far now.
Along the way, Uncle Gazi and I gritted our teeth and pushed forward.
Suo Tian, carrying Wang Tingyun, still led the way up front, his steps steady and pace unchanged.
Countless times when I wanted to just plop down on the ground and stop moving, I'd look at Suo Tian's back and start to wonder if that guy was even human.
Having good stamina was one thing, but this was like some kind of cheat code!
"How much farther is it, roughly?" Uncle Gazi, seemingly at his limit, asked Suo Tian, panting and speaking with a shaky voice, looking like he could collapse at any moment.
"Not far now." Suo Tian responded but showed no intention of slowing down or stopping for a break.
I forced a smile and teased, "Uncle Gazi, you're getting old. Your stamina's just not what it used to be."
Uncle Gazi waved his hand and said, "Girl, what do you know? Back when I was young, I was famous in the village as Strongman Wang. Yun's grandma fell for me because of this strength—whether it was slaughtering pigs or butchering sheep, everyone in the village came to ask me for help."
As he spoke, a trace of pride appeared on his weary face, but it was quickly replaced by a sigh.
He muttered somewhat dejectedly, "But time shows no mercy. That dashing young man from back then has become this old geezer. My own granddaughter even calls me 'ugly grandpa.'"
After suffering for hours with a long face, I couldn't hold it in anymore and finally let out a snort of laughter at Uncle Gazi's words.
I don't know whether we were just lucky, or really lucky, or absurdly lucky, but on the way here, maybe the heavens took pity on the half-dead state of me and Uncle Gazi.
We only ran into two walkers, and Suo Tian took them down within seconds.
All Uncle Gazi and I could do was watch and sigh from the side—we didn't even have the strength to lift a hand.
Finally, after pushing forward for another few hundred meters, I couldn't take it anymore.
I plopped down on the ground and shouted toward Suo Tian up front, "I'm done! I'm not walking anymore. Let's rest—just a quick break!"
Uncle Gazi had been walking almost shoulder to shoulder with me, and when he saw me sit down, he didn't say a word—just followed suit and plopped down beside me.
The two of us exchanged a glance, both silently agreeing: we're going on strike together.
Traveling quickly was important—we knew every minute on the road added to the danger—but we were heading to the shelter in the first place just to stay alive.
At this point, though, it was clear: if we kept going, Uncle Gazi and I would probably drop dead before we ever got there.
Suo Tian turned around with Wang Tingyun still in his arms and looked at the two of us.
I took a closer look—well, I'll be damned!
That little one had fallen asleep again.
I couldn't help but sigh inwardly: kids really do have it easy.
"Then let's rest for ten minutes," Suo Tian said, seemingly realizing that Uncle Gazi and I had fully decided to stop.
So he simply came over and sat down too.
I glanced at Suo Tian—he was probably tired too…
Humans, at the end of the day, are lazy creatures.
I had originally just meant to sit and rest for a bit, but now that I was seated, I wanted to lie down.
Yet when I saw Suo Tian twisting his neck, still alertly scanning the surroundings, I couldn't help but sigh and give up on that idea.
Rest time always goes by way too fast.
It's like when you don't want to go to work in the morning, and your alarm rings—you decide to sleep for just ten more minutes, and those ten minutes seem to vanish in an instant.
When Suo Tian stood up again and announced that it was time to move, Uncle Gazi and I looked like we were about to cry—our mouths practically drooped to the floor.
But the sun was already starting to dip toward the horizon.
The weather was cold, and by around five or six o'clock, it would be completely dark.
We really didn't have any time to waste.
After resting, our stamina recovered just a little, so we forced ourselves to keep walking.
Our legs were already moving on autopilot, completely out of our control.
Uncle Gazi, who had started out with a straight back, now gradually hunched over, groaning and gasping with each step.
Finally, just as Uncle Gazi and I were about to collapse to the ground again, Suo Tian suddenly said, "We're here."
I was stunned for a moment.
My brain, long dulled from exhaustion, was practically in standby mode.
It wasn't until Uncle Gazi cried out joyfully, "That's gotta be it! Oh my god, we finally made it. I'm lucky my old bones didn't fall apart along the way," that I snapped out of it.
Following their line of sight, I saw, in the distance, about six or seven apartment buildings—each around ten to twenty stories tall—standing not far ahead.
I turned and glanced around, and only then realized that while we had been entirely focused on our exhaustion, we hadn't noticed that we had unknowingly entered the outskirts of the city.
But we were still a bit away from the actual city center.
Aside from those few tall buildings ahead, most of the surrounding houses were old and low-rise.
Some even had small plots of land in front of them, probably used to grow vegetables.
Seeing our destination in sight gave us a solid goal to focus on, and I suddenly felt like half my strength had returned.
Staring at those residential buildings not far ahead, a surge of indescribable joy welled up in my heart.
It was just like when you've been walking down a pitch-dark road for a long, long time and finally catch a glimpse of light up ahead.
I quickened my pace to catch up with Suo Tian, and Uncle Gazi followed right behind.
The two of us, who were practically on the verge of collapsing just moments ago, had completely revived.
Judging by the gleam in Uncle Gazi's eyes, I figured I probably looked just as excited.
Wang Tingyun had already woken up.
Suo Tian set her down on the ground.
The little one had been carried for so long that when he suddenly put her down like that, she didn't fully react in time—her feet touched the ground, wobbled a bit, and she promptly plopped down onto the ground with a thud.
Uncle Gazi and I rushed over in a panic to help her up, but she pushed our hands away, stuck her little butt up in the air, and climbed up by herself.
Then she clapped the dirt off her hands and patted off the dust on her backside in a very serious manner.
"Yuntou'er, are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?" Uncle Gazi's voice was full of concern as he squatted down and looked his granddaughter over carefully.
Tingyun giggled a couple of times and mumbled, "Fell on my butt, hehe~"
"Do you want Grandpa to carry you?" Uncle Gazi asked, adjusting her clothes a bit.
"I don't want to be carried."
After saying that, she tilted her little face up, glanced around at us, then pouted slightly and mumbled, "I want something yummy to eat."
Uncle Gazi chuckled and patted her little head. "Once we get there, Grandpa will find you something tasty. Just hang in there a little longer, okay?"
As soon as Uncle Gazi finished comforting Tingyun and we were all about to push forward together toward the shelter gate, Suo Tian—who had been silently standing in place this whole time—suddenly let out a sharp "shhh" sound.
Then, standing stock-still, he quickly said, "A sniper rifle is aiming at us."
Uncle Gazi and I had been chatting about what things would be like in the shelter, but with that one sentence from Suo Tian, our intense discussion was cut off mid-thought.
Uncle Gazi's hearty laugh, which was just about to reach the third burst, got stuck at the second one—his mouth froze open, and his eyes stared blankly at Suo Tian, not making another sound.
"A sniper rifle? Aiming at us? Where? How do you know?"
I froze in place too, not daring to move a muscle, and fired off a string of rapid-fire questions.
Suo Tian was not the kind of person to joke about something like this—if he said it, it meant it was real.
Realizing that made a cold sweat instantly break out across my back.
I didn't know much about modern firearms and weapons, but during my time with Suo Tian's group, I had seen them up close.
The power they packed was terrifying.
Honestly, I was even more afraid now than when we had faced all those walkers back in the village.
Whoever was aiming at us only needed to gently pull the trigger—and if they had good aim, one of us would drop in an instant, without even a chance to groan.
"On the top floor of the apartment complex," Suo Tian said, his tone unchanged.
After a short pause, he added, "Keep walking. Act like nothing happened."
As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped forward and began walking again.
Judging by his posture and expression, he really looked as if nothing had happened.
For a brief moment, watching his calm and unwavering face, I even wondered if he was messing with us.
Uncle Gazi was clearly a bit shaken too.
But instead of saying anything, he simply bent down, picked up Tingyun, and followed behind Suo Tian—fully trusting his judgment.
Tingyun didn't understand what was going on.
She had just gotten her feet on the ground, and now she was suddenly being picked up again.
Unhappy about it, she babbled away at her grandpa, rambling something we couldn't quite make out.
I followed along as well, my eyes darting constantly toward the top floor of the buildings up ahead.
I didn't dare stare too long, afraid the sniper might realize we'd spotted them.
I did my best to make it look like I was casually glancing around, sweeping my gaze past the rooftops of those buildings again and again.
Sure enough, on the third pass, I vaguely saw a small black dot on the rooftop of one of the buildings.
We weren't too far from the complex now, but the buildings were quite tall.
If someone was lying prone up there, from where we stood, they'd appear no more than a tiny speck.
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